Four nations, China, India, Russia and Ukraine, chess behemoths of the 21st century that impacted the world in their distinctive ways, have qualified to contest the semi-final of the elite Women’s World Championship in Tehran, Iran.

The failure of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) to engineer a national chess championship during 2016 was excruciating to those persons who qualified for the tournament, and markedly embarrassing for those who are in tune with the game.

At the conclusion of the sixth round of the elite London Chess Classic tournament (on Thursday), which opened on December 9 and ends today, US grandmaster Wesley So maintained the lead in a field which boasts eight of the world’s top ten chess players.

Last week’s column mentioned that this year’s World Championship 12th game of classical chess between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin under standard time controls did not compare favourably to the 1985 World Championship 24th and final game of the Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov match.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.

The South American grandmaster from Paraguay, Axel Bachmann (2645), was confident as he faced the lad from India during the final round of the competitive Isle of Man International Chess Tournament last Sunday.

Following the conclusion of round six of the 42nd Chess Olympiad currently in progress in Baku, Azerbaijan, India’s men have taken the lead ahead of such behemoths as Russia, the US, China, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

The final game between world chess champion Magnus Carlsen and his world championship challenger Sergey Karjakin ended disappointingly in a draw after 19 moves at the 2016 Bilbao Masters Final in Spain on Thursday.

There was a promising time in Guyana following the creation of the chess association in the early 1970s, when the nation benefited from men who demonstrated commitment to the game, integrity, and polish.

Event: The Umada Cup
Location: Georgetown, Guyana
Host: Guyana Chess Federation
Date: Someday in the future
Preamble:
The Umada Cup is the premier Caribbean chess championship competition which is held annually, and is sponsored by FIDE, the governing body of world chess.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill
Assuredly, demonstrating a negative attitude with clear absences of transparency, prime examples of high-handedness and pellucid cases of disinterest is tantamount to courting disaster, and has contributed the demise of many.

Last Thursday and Friday, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov opposed new US champion Fabiano Caruana, and the other two top finishers of the 2016 US championship, namely Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, in a sensational blitz contest.

At the start of the Engineering Construction Incorporated (ECI) chess competition two Saturdays ago, this column enquired whether the tournament should be considered the elimination one for the selection of players for 2016 Chess Olympiad.

“The annual general meeting, of which at least four weeks prior notice shall be given, will be held not later than March each year.” – Constitution (Rules) of the Guyana Chess Federation, as approved at a general meeting on March 26, 1972
March has ended.